A fire broke out in a restaurant in south Kolkata’s Kalighat on Wednesday evening. Five tenders brought it under control, police said.
The fire broke out at Hotel Sathi near the crossing of Sadananda Road and Pratapaditya Road, around 6pm. Bystanders spotted black fumes emanating from the restaurant.
A lone fire tender from the Kalighat station reached the spot and over the next 10 minutes, three others from nearby fire stations reached the spot.
“Some of the restaurant staff, along with a few visitors, had to be evacuated. But no one was injured,” said a senior officer of Kalighat police station.
Firefighters spray water at the restaurant
Firefighters inspect the damaged restaurant
A senior officer of the fire and emergency services department said they had yet to identify the exact cause of the fire but it appeared to have started in the kitchen, where a gas cylinder may have exploded.
The place allegedly lacked a firefighting system. “A forensic team will visit the spot on Thursday to identify the exact cause of the fire,” a senior officer said.
Eyewitnesses told police that fumes from the restaurant covered the sky. The fumes even reached the Kalighat Metro station.
Separate teams of officers from two police stations, Kalighat and Tollygunge, reached the spot to cordon off the area and ensure there were no obstacles to firefighting while traffic sergeants restricted traffic movement at the Rashbehari crossing to make way for more fire tenders during the evening peak hour.
Firhad Hakim File picture
Mayor Firhad Hakim and fire and emergency services minister Sujit Basu oversaw the operations. Debasish Kumar, the local MLA, was also there.
“We had to restrict traffic movement in phases to ensure that fire tenders could reach the spot faster. The fire had to be contained early and there couldn’t be any hold up of the fire tenders from reaching the spot,” said a senior officer of the Tollygunge traffic guard.
The restaurant is located adjacent to a dhaba and attracts heavy footfall even on weekdays. Fortunately, there weren’t too many visitors when the fire had broken out.
“We brought out the staff and the visitors and offered them water. Some of us even tried to douse the flames, which appeared to have started from a leaking LPG cylinder,” said a staff of the dhaba.
Fire tenders initially struggled to spot the seat of fire through a maze of thick black fumes but gradually made their way inside.
“The fire was brought under control around 7pm,” the officer said.